4 Approaches to Make Your Hydraulic Oil Last Longer
The price of gas and diesel usually hurts the pocket of any business far more than that of the cost of hydraulic oil, unless of course you have some major leaking going with your hydraulic equipment.
Whatever the case, nobody wants to be paying out more than is necessary. So the question is, how can you make your hydraulic oil last longer and go further? Here are 4 things that can certainly help:
1. Keep it in
The most obvious approach is to keep your oil in the hydraulic system. The fewer leaks you have, the better. The slow leaks that you have can be costing you more than you think, in particular if you just ignore them and don’t attend to them.
2. Keep it cool
Keep your operating temperature down or your oil will rapidly lose condition. Remember we mentioned Arrhenius’s Law recently, about how an increase of every 10 degrees in Celsius can double the rate of reactions. Well this applies to oxidation too. With air and water in the system, the condition of your oil is going to go downhill rapidly.
Imagine what happens if you pour cooking oil into a glass. It’s going to take a very long time before it takes on the tell-tale change of colour of oxidation. However, add that same cooking oil to a frying pan and heat it and you’ll get some black cooking oil before you know it.
3. Keep it dry
Water in the system can seriously affect the additive structure. For example, the additive known as ZDDP which is for anti-wear will be very unstable with the presence of water. This could lead to undesirable outcomes.
4. Keep it clean
Particle contamination is another area of danger. Particles can cause utter mayhem by inducing greater oxidation and also hydrolysis. They can even attach themselves to additives and when they are captured by filters, they will be robbing your hydraulic system of that additive.
In summary, our recommendation for making the best out of our hydraulic oil is to keep it inside, keep it operating when it’s cool, dry and clean. Don’t change it unless it’s degraded or the additives have been depleted.